AshleyBCoombe

Wow, that sounds really strange. Let me be clear. I love non-life-threatening Emergency Room visits.

This last weekend, my husband made a brilliant choice while putting in our new patio and wheelchair ramp. (Why do we need a wheelchair ramp? Read about my amazing nephew Zeke here!). He decided that while tamping down the dirt with a tamper, which looks just like a jackhammer with a 1′x1′ solid square at the bottom, it would be okay to wear flip flops. He was walking the tamper backwards up the hill to load it into the truck to return it to Home Depot when it ran over his foot. Genius.

(I feel okay teasing my husband on this blog, because he’s very aware that I think he’s one of the smartest hardest workers I’ve ever met. I have to give him a little bit of a hard time because it’s ALWAYS me that gets hurt, and he teases me mercilessly when I’m injured!)

He immediately went into shock, and despite blood pouring everywhere, assured me he was fine. When he went white and nearly hit the floor, I half carried him to the car to take him to the ER. (Thank goodness for being in a multi-generational household. I would have hated to drag the three girls with us!)

The doctor said his bone was not broken, it was CRUSHED. He will lose his big toe nail, and they said his toe will never quite look the same. Sounds like bad news, right? Well, here’s why I loved the emergency room visit.

Before we left for the hospital, I was feeling rushed and stressed all morning. I’ve been sick and unable to get a lot done lately. Our house feels messy, we’ve been spending too much money on convenience foods because I haven’t been cooking, and I had 3000 unread emails in my inbox (down to 48 today, thank you very much!). I was snapping at the kids, grumpy at Dan, and feeling like I would never get things under control.

About 15 minutes after we arrived, another couple came into the same room as us. We were separated by a curtain, but we could hear everything that was going on. I know they were listening to us because of the snickers coming from their side of the curtain when Dan explained to the doctor why his foot was mangled.

The gentleman next to us was not much older than we are. He was having severe stomach pains. After running several blood tests, we overheard the doctor tell him that if he hadn’t come in, he probably wouldn’t have survived the night. He had an abscess in his abdominal wall that had become infected. I looked at Dan’s bloody smashed toe and thanked God that we were there for something so minor. (My husband may not agree with that, but hey, I wasn’t the one in pain.)

Listening to the man and his wife, who had no insurance, discuss how they were going to handle the bills, and whether or not this would have lasting effects on their way of living was a wake up call to me. The man’s reaction to being so close to losing his life, and his wife’s reaction to almost losing her husband broke my heart. What a huge reminder that my messy home and full inbox are not real problems.

We’ve had a lot of wake up calls like this recently, from our next door neighbor being in the Aurora shooting (he’s okay), to being worried that my recent health issues may be something more than a long lasting stomach virus (it was, but turned out not to be a big deal). You would think that I would stop worrying about the little things, and just be thankful and appreciate my blessed life. But instead, I get focused on the small things that stress me out.

As a result of these wake up calls, time in the ER, nearly losing a good family friend, I’ve come to what to me is a big life decision. Despite my awesome time with mywedding.com, I’ve decided that this is not a good time for me to have a job out of the house. I love my job there, love the company, and love the work. But it’s not the right time of life for me to make it a priority. I still intend on working from home following my passions, coaching moms who want to work from home, blogging, creating products and marketing affiliate products. But I am excited to continue in a way that I can drop my work at a moment’s notice to play a game with the kids or take care of one of them who is sick without letting anyone else down.

Apparently I need to go sit in the Emergency Room and listen to what other people are dealing with when I get stressed. Or maybe I need to remember daily how easy I have it, and that the things that worry me or stress me out are non-issues in the grand scheme of things. And I suppose I should probably get off my rear and just clean the house and cook dinner now that I’m well again

Not sure exactly how this fits in with learning to make money from home, except to remind you not to forget the real priorities in life. Remember to appreciate what you already have. If you forget, just do something mildly stupid that will land you in the emergency room with a not too urgent emergency. Hearing the stories and looking at the faces of others there will remind you quickly what is important!